Good reads

All of these books are available in our library.....

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We were liars by E. Lockhart



"We Were Liars, is clever, alluring, and wildly addictive. Each summer the wealthy, seemingly perfect, members of the Sinclair family gather on their private island. We Were Liars is the story of those annual reunions; in particular what happened during a summer that protagonist Cadence is unable to remember. Prejudice, greed, and shifting patriarchal favoritism among the three adult sisters contrasts with the camaraderie and worldview of the teenage cousins and their dear friend Gat. Lazy days of sticky lemonades on the roof and marathon Scrabble games give way to twisty suspense, true love, and good intentions gone horribly wrong. We Were Liars is a story that begs to be read in one sitting." (Seira Wilson)

"Thrilling, beautiful and blisteringly smart....utterly unforgettable" (John Green)

"A mysterious and addictive treat" (Telegraph)

"Surprising, thrilling and beautifully executed in spare, precise and lyrical prose. Lockhart spins a tragic family drama, the roots of which go back generations. And the ending? Shhhh. Not telling. (But it's a doozy)." (Booklist)

Review: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/05/we-were-liars-e-lockhart-review-cunning-clever-absolutely-gripping

More reviews: https://insideadog.com.au/books/we-were-liars

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Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel


"An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. We see the strange twists of fate that connect them all, leading us to think about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it." (Amazon)

Many reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20170404-station-eleven
Review: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/25/station-eleven-review-emily-st-john-mandel

Author's website: http://www.emilymandel.com/stationeleven.html

"A beautiful and unsettling book, the action moves between the old and new world, drawing connections between the characters and their pasts and showing the sweetness of life as we know it now and the value of friendship, love and art over all the vehicles, screens and remote controls that have been rendered obsolete." (Sunday Express)


“ In this unforgettable, haunting, and almost hallucinatory portrait of life at the edge, those who remain struggle to retain their basic humanity and make connections with the vanished world through art, memory, and remnants of popular culture ... a brilliantly constructed, highly literary, postapocalyptic page-turner. " (Lauren Gilbert)

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Replica by Jack Heath




A young woman wakes up to find all her memories have been wiped - and the only person who knows what happened is a girl who looks and sounds exactly like her. Who is she and what does she want? Time is running out to discover the truth...

'Intense, thought-provoking YA sci-fi about identity, ethics and android doppelgangers. Great balance of contemplative philosophy/belting action.' (Imogen Russell Williams, critic at The Guardian)
Reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20559839-replica
Review: http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/sep/20/review-replica-jack-heath

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Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories



50th anniversary collection - a new adventure for every Doctor, written by great writers: Neil Gaiman, Patrick Ness, Michael Scott, Eoin Colfer, Richelle Mead, Phillip Reeve..

Titles include:
The Third Doctor: The spear of destiny by Marcus Sedgwick
The Sixth Doctor: Something borrowed by Richelle Mead
The Tenth Doctor: The mystery of the haunted cottage by Derek Landy
The Eleventh Doctor: Nothing o'clock by Neil Gaiman

Reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17973716-eleven-doctors-eleven-stories
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/18/doctor-who-doctors-11-stories-review
http://www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/doctor-who-11-doctors-11-stories-book-review/

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Code name Verity by Elizabeth Wein



Excerpt: "I have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do. That's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine - and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturnfuhrer von Linden interrogating me again."

“Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, is a fiendishly plotted mind game of a novel, the kind you have to read twice. The first time you just devour the story of girl-pilot-and-girl-spy friendship and the thrill of flying a plane and the horrors of Nazi torture and the bravery of French Resistance fighters and you force yourself to slow down, but you don’t want to, because you’re terrified these beautiful, vibrant characters are doomed...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/books/review/code-name-verity-by-elizabeth-wein.html?_r=0

Great review by author Maggie Stiefvater:
http://maggiestiefvater.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/five-things-about-code-name-verity.html
Many reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11925514-code-name-verity
Author's website: http://www.elizabethwein.com/

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Divergent by Veronica Roth



"In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself." (Goodreads)
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent

“A memorable, unpredictable journey from which it is nearly impossible to turn away.” - Publishers Weekly

Reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Book-1-Veronica-Roth/product-reviews/0062024027

Authors' blog: http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com.au/
http://thedivergenttrilogy.com/

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The ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman



"A brilliantly imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first new novel for adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys. A man returns to his childhood home and his unremembered past comes flooding back - a bewitching and harrowing tale of mystery and survival, memory and magic.....a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark."
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Ocean-End-Lane-Neil-Gaiman/?isbn=9780062255655

"This is my favorite of Neil Gaiman’s books so far—a haunting novel about sacrifice, boundaries, and things remembered. So many twisted and tattered new characters to get into our heads and under our skin. Once again, Neil does what he does so well: he takes us by the hand and introduces us to a dark, tangled corner of the universe full of things that make us shiver and hold our breath in the dark." - Valya Lupescu.

Reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15783514-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane

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The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky



"In the tradition of The catcher in the rye.....inspirational and beautifully written". - USA Today.
A poignant & funny coming-of-age novel. Charlie is a shy teenager trying to navigate his way through the challenges of high school & life. He is caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Through a series of letters to a friend, Charlie reveals disturbing information about his background.
Reviews: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=pK0X5FyUs28C&sitesec=reviews
The film stars Logan Lerman & Emma Watson: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1659337/

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Steampunk!: an anthology of fantastically rich and strange stories edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant.



Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. A world of automatons, ornate clockworks and time travel, where scientists and dreamers solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.

Includes stories by Cassandra Clare, Garth Nix, Cory Doctorow, Delia Sherman, Dylan Horrocks.

Stories include: Some fortunate future day; Clockwork fagin; Seven days beset by demons; Steam girl; The oracle engine.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kelly-link/steampunk-link/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10635363-steampunk-an-anthology-of-fantastically-rich-and-strange-stories

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The Avengers: the Heroic Age by Brian Michael Bendis



"The Avengers come out of the darkness and into a new heroic age! Iron Man, Thor and Captain America have been the Avengers' heart and soul since the team's earliest days. But in the wreckage of Asgard, they find themselves squabbling over old wounds. As unstable magics cast the heroes-at-odds into the scattered Nine Realms, they quickly realize the world in which they're trapped is not how it should be. Can they come together and put it right? Then, as the three heroes re-forge the Avengers with the likes of Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Spider-Woman, Kang returns from the future bearing ill tidings of a force so powerful even he can't conquer it! Plus, what's next for the New Avengers? Steve Rogers offers Cage the reins of his own team, but which heroes will Luke choose to join him - assuming he even wants the gig to begin with? He better decide soon, because the forces of evil are literally dropping out of the sky - and even master mystics Doctor Strange, Doctor Voodoo and Daimon Hellstrom are at a loss to stop it. It's time for Luke Cage and his New Avengers to step up, or their first mission may well be their last!" (Amazon.com)
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25471
http://www.comicvine.com/avengers-by-brian-michael-bendis-the-heroic-age-avengers-by-brian-michael-bendis-the-heroic-age/37-321756/

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Fables by Bill Willingham



Award-winning 17 part fantasy series with spin-offs. Characters from folklore have been forced out of their homelands and set up a secret society in New York to battle evil.
Bill Willingham & Fables
Info about Fables
The Fables universe expands

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Game of thrones by George R. R. Martin



Book 1 in the acclaimed 5 part fantasy series A song of fire and ice.
Set in the seven kingdoms of Westeros, several powerful families compete to rule the land and deal with the rising threat of the supernatural Others.
Game of thrones
Book review
Game of thrones is also a popular HBO TV series

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Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro

external image never+let+me+go.jpg

What does it really mean to be human? A powerful dystopian science fiction novel that deals with ethics, society & love.The film based on the novel was released in April 2011 & stars Keira Knightley. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334260/
Book reviews: http://www.smh.com.au/news/Books/Never-let-me-go/2005/03/17/1110913718562.html http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/books/review/17KERRL.html

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Raymond E. Feist's Magician graphic novel series


Pug and Tomas are two kitchen boys who dream of being heroes one day in the medieval fantasy world of Midkemia. But as the boys start on the path to manhood and begin their apprenticeships to their respective masters, they one day stumble upon a strange shipwreck and learn that invaders from a strange and distant world have found a way to invade Midkemia through portals known as 'rifts' and are preparing for a full scale assault. As Tomas learns to be a soldier and Pug studies the path of a magician, both boys find themselves growing into the heroes they had hoped to become - but growing apart as the effects of the Riftwar change both of their lives forever. www.kingscomics.com

Magician is a fantasy novel by Raymond E. Feist. It is the first book of the Riftwar Saga and was published in 1982. It led to many books written by Feist in the world of Midkemia, which was the setting for this book. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magician_(novel)

Review of Magician: http://www.fantasybooknews.com/2010/08/review-magician-apprentice-by-raymond-e-feist/ (Lots of other fantasy book reviews on this site)


The final trilogy of the Magician series will be published from March 2011. The first book is A kingdom besieged.
http://www.fictiondb.com/author/raymond-e-feist~a-kingdom-besieged~284251~b.htm

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Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley



We've got Scott Pilgrim ......the 6 graphic novels. Did you see the film? Stars Michael Cera as Scott.
Scott is a 23 year old slacker and part-time bassist in a band and he's got to defeat the 7 evil exes of Ramona V. Flowers in order to date her.
1. Scott Pilgrim's precious little life
2. Scott Pilgrim vs the world
3. Scott Pilgrim & the infinite sadness
4. Scott Pilgrim gets it together
5. Scott Pilgrim vs the universe
6. Scott Pilgrim's finest hour
More info: __http://en.wikipedia.o__rg/wiki/Scott_Pilgrim
The movie Scott Pilgrim vs the world stars Michael Cera and is directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the dead; Hot fuzz). Rates 8.2 / 10 on IMDB. More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446029/